Dozens of college students hurt when bus overturns in Virginia

The overturned bus in Virginia. — (Image credit: Twitter.com/Breaking911)

More than 30 college students headed back to school after Thanksgiving weekend were injured Sunday night when the charter bus they were on overturned on a Virginia highway.

In a statement, Virginia State Police said there were 50 passengers and the driver on board the bus when the crash took place, and 33 were taken to area hospitals; one person had life-threatening injuries, ABC News reports. The students were picked up at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, and were headed to the first stop at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville; the passengers were all returning to the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, and Radford University.

Police say the bus driver "lost control" on a highway ramp, and has been charged with reckless driving. Investigators are gathering evidence from the scene, and the bus operator, Abbott Trailways, says it is "working with police to determine what happened."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.